CherryRoad Media gutting more newspapers

 Cherry Road, about whom I've blogged before for its toxic wasteland job on the Sherman Dumpacrap, even twice, and before that, about it in general, is fixing to do the same to the Brownwood Bulletin and the Waxahachie Daily Light.

Per the Texas Press Association Messenger, it's cut print runs at both papers (neither of which I knew it owned) from triweekly to weekly.

"LOVE" this indirect quote comment by Jeremy Gulban, who has the title of publisher of CherryRoad Media (as in, really, only one publisher for ALL the newspapers you own? that's crap right there):

He added the frequency and delivery changes are directly related to economic and digital realities that make the continuiation of a daily paper increasingly difficult.

Puleeze! Triweekly papers have traditionally been considered non-daily, therefore neither of these was a daily before you cut the print runs. You'll even find that officially listed in some states' law codes. With that said, I'll have to see if they're cutting print days at the Dumpacrap, too.

And, while I'm here, TPA staff, next time somebody like this makes a claim like that?  PLEASE feel free to add an editor's note at the end explaining what a daily paper has traditionally been.

While I'm also here, I know the Daily Slight had formerly been owned by ACM, which sold itself off years ago to old Craphouse. Wiki still listed the Bulletin as being owned by Craphouse, aka new Gannett, so must have been sold recently. (If that's not going from frying pan to fire, or from craphouse to crappier house.) But, if you're a newspaper corporation, please show that you care about the future of newspapers by not selling to CherryRoad when you do sell. And, if you're truly family-owned, please resist if you can.

Another big fail by CJR: Jeff Gerth reviewing Russiagate reporting

 Yes, THAT Jeff Gerth of long-ago Whitewater infamy wrote a multi-part series reviewing mainstream media coverage of Russiagate.

Beyond his background making this a bad optics issue, his actual work simply makes this bad. After a "backgrounder," Gerth starts part 1 of his review (ye gads, there's multiple parts) with an interview of Trump himself. Does Gerth really expect Trump to tell him anything that's not totally self-serving? That's beyond Gerth opting for "scene-setting" vignettes like this:

During my interview with Trump, he appeared tired as he sat behind his desk. He wore golf attire and his signature red MAGA hat, having just finished eighteen holes. But his energy and level of engagement kicked in when it came to questions about perceived enemies, mainly Mueller and the media.

DUH! Of course he perked up. Seriously. This is bad optics for CJR.

Presumably, other reviewers could have picked up on Bill Clinton's pre-2016 ties with Vladimir Putin.

Second, there have been other journalists critical of MSM coverage besides the troika, all problematic, of Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi and Aaron Maté. 

And, given what Duncan Campbell recently said about him, having Kyle Pope edit Gerth's series is ... interesting. 

On the other hand, Vox, from whence I saw the CJR piece, continues to try to connect the dots of a circus clown picture into a Monet water lilies painting on Russiagate, and continues to fail. It might have done better than a defensive critique of CJR and used someone other than Andrew Prokop.

Texas Press Association slips again

 TPA last week sent out by email another guest column. I assume Mike Hodges et al are paid for these redistributions. That said, Mike et al, you don't have to take the money, just like you didn't have to take the pig in a poke money from Column.US, but did.

Anyway, the particular guest column? It's dreck by a James Quintero of "Government for the People." Teh Google says, even without learning more about the org, that he used to be at Texas Public Policy Foundation. (GFTP is a sub-agency within TPPF.) Nuff ced. 

And, with the cover story of an attack on the Texas Association of School Boards, it moves into one of the big, continuing wet dreams of wingnuts in the Texas Lege: abolishing "lobbying" by local governments. People who know Austin's hypocritical nutcutting, from plastic bag bans through fracking bans and beyond in city government, all while wingnuts who squeal "states rights" don't let that trickle down, know that "lobbying" is needed. So does TASB on protecting public schools. 

Re TASB, it's full of lies. TASB money is spent on better protections for public schools against book-banners and their fellow travelers like Quintero, if we want to put it bluntly.

As for the argument that taxpayers, via individual school boards, shouldn't have their money "wasted" by TASB?

Mike, same arguments apply to the Texas Press Association if it pays one red cent for redistributing stuff like this. Heck, it should be said even if the redistribution is done for free.

It's also another sign, contra wingnuts like Quintero, that most local media isn't the "librulz."

And, it's also not the first time I've blogged about TPA and press releases, though that was straight news and just more head-scratching than off-putting like this.